Church gives guidelines for bringing faith to the streets

A rather interesting document was issued today on the pastoral care of the road. The guidelines were created for the purpose of bringing care for the human person even to the roadways, since the Gospel should be preached everywhere.

The instructions were issued by a department of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People under the leadership of Cardinal Renato Martino.

The document - published in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian - is divided into four sections: The pastoral care of road users, pastoral ministry for the liberation of street women, the pastoral care of street children, and the pastoral care of the homeless.

Cardinal Martino indicated that the idea of preparing this document arose during the First European Meeting of National Directors of the Pastoral Care of the Road, held in 2003. "Its aim," he said, "is to guide and coordinate all the ecclesial bodies in the world of the pastoral care of the road, and to encourage and stimulate episcopal conferences of countries in which this form of pastoral care does not exist, to organize it."

Commenting on the first part of the document, Cardinal Martino expressed the view that "Church and State, each in its own field, must work to create a generalized public awareness on the question of road safety and promote, using all possible means, ... an adequate education among drivers, travelers and pedestrians."

Referring to the evangelization of the road, the president of the pontifical council recalled that the Church also aims at "the religious formation of car drivers, professional transporters, passengers, and all those people who, in one way or another, are associated with roads and railways." In this context, he recalled the fact that in many countries there are "fixed or mobile highway chapels, and pastoral workers who visit motorway service areas and periodically celebrate liturgies there."

One item of particular interest is the list of 10 Commandments for drivers which could be of use for those prone to “road rage”. The commandments are:

I. You shall not kill.II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.IV. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.VII. Support the families of accident victims.VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.X. Feel responsible towards others.